Jorginho admits he still 'dreams' of playing under Pep Guardiola
By Tom Gott
Chelsea midfielder Jorginho has admitted that he still dreams of playing under Pep Guardiola, who came close to signing him for Manchester City in 2018.
Jorginho was expected to leave Napoli for City that summer but Chelsea swooped in late and struck a deal to bring him to Stamford Bridge alongside manager Maurizio Sarri.
"I wasn’t supposed to come to Chelsea," he confessed to Alê Oliveira. "I was supposed to have arrived at another club. Another English club.
“And then it happened as it happened and I arrived at Chelsea. So with Chelsea everything happened very fast. When I saw their offer, I was already in London and I said ‘let’s go’.”
Jorginho was very reluctant to actually mention City's name, only doing so after he was pushed to discuss it, but then confessed that it was the idea of playing under Guardiola that convinced him to leave Napoli for the Premier League in the first place.
When asked if he still has the same 'dream' of playing under the City boss, Jorginho admitted: “I have. I don’t know if it will [happen]. But yeah, he’s a reference. When I was a kid, I watched his Barcelona win everything with Ronaldinho, Xavi, Iniesta.”
Jorginho's long-term future at Chelsea remains up in the air. The 30-year-old has 18 months remaining on his contract, as does fellow 30-year-old N'Golo Kante, and the Blues must make a decision on both soon.
Chelsea are planning to bolster their midfield in the summer and have made West Ham's Declan Rice their top target, with Monaco's Aurelien Tchouameni another player high on Thomas Tuchel's wish list.
Conor Gallagher is set to return from his loan with Crystal Palace to compete for a first-team place as well, with Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Ross Barkley both expected to depart. Saul Niguez's loan move from Atletico Madrid is unlikely to be made permanent.